Republic resonator

I ordered a Republic Resonator
ukulele: a concert scale, metal-body
uke, from
Guitar Safari, in San Pedro.
I spoke with Dirk there and enjoyed our chat enough to give me
confidence to buy from him. I expected the uke to arrive in about
a week. It took two, thanks to the combined delaying efforts of the US
and Canadian postal services, and a few days enjoying the
company of Canada Customs.

Resonators are a subclass of ukulele that is just beginning to
gain real popularity. It sounds a bit like a banjo uke, but more
metallic. The nylon strings produce a different sort of result
than steel strings, so it doesn't have that sharp bite that
steel strings offer. Some resos are all-metal, others are wood
with the metal cone.

I've wanted a reso uke for a while to do some blues and maybe
some slide pieces, but most are in the premium uke price range,
close to and even topping $1,000. That's way outside my budget.

Only two - both Chinese made - are affordable (under $300 USD) to me:
Johnson and Republic. Bother are similar - metal body, concert
scale. The Johnson is bright and shiny with a pattern
embossed in the metal. The Republic most
commonly shown is the Reso Relic:
artificially aged to look like it was found buried in a barn. Personally I prefer the Johnson's look
because I think the "relic" look is an affectation. There
are several Johnson uke dealers online, but few selling
Republics. Perhaps it's because customers don't like the look,
either. The Johnson looks new and spiffy.

I was pleasantly surprised when the Republic arrived: I had
expected it to be the "relic" version but it was instead bright
and shiny. I hadn't realized Republic made two models. The
downside is that the nickel plating shows ever single
fingerprint and smudge! But I like this bright, metallic look.

For the price, this is a classy little instrument. The body is the traditional figure-eight style, wider at the
bottom, and nicely proportioned.

The back is plain with a small hump. The
uke is very heavy - 2.4 lbs. on my bathroom scale - and
has no tail button for a strap - a major oversight on the
designer's part. The weight (most of it in the body so it has
poor balance) makes it awkward to hold for a long time and
discourages stand-up play. Your standard uke thong won't work on
this uke, either, because there's no place to put the hook.
Maybe the Uke Leash will.

I'd read better things online about the build quality of the
Republic than the Johnson, particularly about some sharp edges
on the cover plate where the strings attach. I've not been able to determine if
the Johnson is made by the same company that makes
Johnson harmonicas. If so, then the questionable quality
might be explicable. Johnson harps aren't particularly well
made, either. But I've been told that the Republics are
American-designed and have better quality control.

I
have few complaints about the build quality, all of them minor.
The fret edges on the upper side (towards your head when you are
playing) are a teensy bit rougher than those on the other side
(but not as noticeable because you seldom play that edge).
The screw heads that hold the cover plate on have tiny burrs.
Some of the fretboard markers are non-standard: one is at the
ninth fret (not the usual tenth), the marker at the 12th fret is
single, not double, and there is a double at the 16th fret.

But
the neck is straight and smooth, the intonation seems accurate
(see below), there are no blemishes, marks or poorly finished
edges on the body: the uke seems well made and well finished.

My uke came with the cover pressed down
(see picture at left) as if someone had sat on
it. Since there was no visible damage to the case, I
assumed the damage was done at Canada Customs when it
was stopped and opened. It turns out the uke is so heavy, if it
gets flipped upside down in its case, it will do it to itself.
It really needs a couple of pieces of styrofoam block on each
side of the cover to prevent this in shipping.

This dent gave me considerable concern, but I
decided to try and fix it myself rather than return it. I removed the cover and was able
to pop the cover back into shape with no damage and not a lot of
effort. The plating was not
broken or marked. The cone, inside, was also slightly dented but
easily restored because it's thin aluminum and easy to reshape.
However, I got a replacement cone for it (see update,
below).

Doing this gave me a chance to look
inside. There's a wooden brace that runs inside the body. I'm
not sure why a metal body (bell brass) instrument would need it, unless it's
to help anchor the neck. You can see areas inside and under the
cover there the metal as been polished to remove any burrs. I
was especially keen to see if the string holes were smooth
because on a metal-body instrument, using nylon strings, that's
a danger zone. There are online comments about Johnson reso ukes
breaking strings there. They seemed to be smooth enough on this
Republic, and there's evidence of some polishing underneath.
I've read this is a much bigger problem with the Johnson
resonators.

The
saddle is ""ebony capped maple" but seems to be
roughly made
and the wood appeared dry (I applied fretboard oil). The
notches for the strings are too small and strings can miss them
or slip out easily. I think the bridge and saddle are the areas
of weakest quality; the utilitarian design works well enough but
it needs a little more effort. A bone saddle might be a nice
upgrade, too.

The
cone - which sports the bridge and saddle - sits loosely on a
rim inside and moves quite easily when the strings are loosened.
This is a bit problematic because even with the cover on,
there's a small amount of free play in the cone's position. It's
easy to slide the bridge as much as 1/8" in any direction, and
end up with the bridge on a poor angle or the strings angled
down the neck. This, of course, affects intonation and you have
to be very careful when restringing to try and position the
bridge exactly. Some sort of notch or stop to hold the cone in
the right spot and at the right angle would have made sense
because you will have to fidget with the cover position every
time you change strings. I'll have to ask online on the forums
for some engineering solutions (no, you can't glue it because
you don't know the exact placement until you have the cover back
on...)

I've had a bit of a problem getting it tuned spot-on because of
the shifting bridge, but also because the tuners were a bit loose and the
strings new. The Republic has friction tuners which may look
more authentic but seem to slide a lot and are an annoyance to
use until the strings stop slipping. I always prefer modern geared tuners and am seriously
thinking of replacing these with geared versions. That way I
could also experiment with steel strings.

The knotted end of the strings go into holes on the cover and
tighten into small slots. I might try using beads on the ends of
my next strings to see if they change the tone. The slot is the
danger zone where the metal can cut into the nylon string and
break it. The Republic's metal edges seem smooth enough, but
when you remove the strings you can feel an indentation on them
where they rest against the metal. So far none have snapped, but
it's something to keep an eye on, especially if I increase the
string tension (such as tuning it up to A).

The
big question is, of course, the sound. Well, the uke comes
strung with black GHS strings, which I think are too soft for a
resonator (I had them on a concert Fluke, too, and don't like
them). It really wants the tension on the saddle to transmit
the most sound to the cone. I personally feel the GHS strings are too light. Aquilas
might work as well, but they're harder to get where I live. I'm
almost tempted to try metal strings because the uke should be
able to take the added tension.

As set up,
the reso doesn't live up to what I believe is its potential. A
reso should be slightly twangy - almost a banjo sound, bright, but metallic and loud. The Republic
is all of those, just not as much of any as I think it ought to
be - or what it really could be. Plus the C string seems a bit 'boomy' compared to the
others (and it's more the sound I want from all the strings!). That may be because it has the most tension, so perhaps
changing the others and leaving it could help balance that out.
So until I can change the strings and test it, I would say the
sound is only average, but has the potential to be excellent.

Overall, it's an old-fashioned sound with some echoes of old
style blues and even banjolele tunes. That's what I was looking
for. Now all I need to do is sweeten it a bit.

I
also tried changing to an open tuning and try some slide
playing, bottleneck blues stuff. I think a reso lends itself to
that more than the other ukes I have. The Republic comes strung
in high-G tuning, by the way. Again, I may change that to low-G
just to experiment, especially if I try it with open tuning and
slide.

The Republic came in a well-padded thick foam case that's has a
soft plush lining. The uke fits quite snugly in it. The case has
two zippered pockets outside and both a handle and shoulder
straps for easy carrying. That's another bonus.

This is my second concert-scale uke and I have to admit I don't
like the shorter neck as much as I like tenor scale. Had this
been a tenor, I would have been much happier. Unless the new
strings change it more in favour of the sound I want, I will
likely not play it as much because I really don't like the
shorter scale and I find my fingers are sloppy and grab the
wrong strings or hit the wrong frets more than with a tenor.

Update: Frank at Republic guitars
sent me a new
cone to replace the one damaged in shipping, no charge. That's
great customer service! He's also been corresponding with me
about string upgrades. If I want to try metal strings, he says
they'll work but I'll need to upgrade to geared tuners. Heavier
strings, like Aquila, he warns, may snap at the place where
their ends meet the cover. So I came up with a
suitable sleeve to protect the string, made from a small slice
of tiny plastic tubing (see below).

August 13/08: I got the new cone and replaced it this afternoon. I
also changed the GHS strings to Aquilas. While the strings were
off, I also oiled the fretboard and the bridge/biscuit assembly
with teak oil.

The new sound is
noticeably louder and brighter, with a slight metallic echo. It
sounds very much like a banjo uke to my ears. I even wonder if
the Aquilas make it too loud and twangy now. It's a sound you
either love or hate, with no apparent middle ground. Susan hates
it, me I like it for its old-fashioned bluesy kick.

I added a glass bead at the end of each string (see picture on
left), which gives them more gripping space, then used a
piece of red plastic air pipe from a can of pressurized air as a sleeve to
protect the end from being cut by the metal cover. I was
guessing at the length and as you can see by the photo above, a
couple of sleeves were cut a bit too long (the cover's colour is
a reflection of my dining room walls). The ballpoint pen idea is
good, but the barrel of the refill is too wide for the notches
in the cover. The air pipe was also a bit too wide, but I
crimped the tube (with my teeth) after I put it on the string so
it fit nicely into the notch.

I had to really tighten
the tuner heads to keep them from slipping, because the Aquilas
have more tension than the GHS strings. The uke continued to go out of tune after a
few minutes' playing, but that settled down when the
strings were properly stretched. My only problem putting this
together was with the C string: it's too thick to make a loop
around the bead and thread it back through. I'm depending on the
knot to hold it in place. I need to find some other beads with
just a little bigger diameter hole for future use. But the other
strings were easy to set up with a bead and sleeve.

Update, Sept. 20: I love the look of this uke, and the sound is
funky, but can't warm to the scale as much as I can to tenors. I
play it a bit and then go back to the longer scales with my
fingers feeling cramped. I ended up
selling it to another forum member and getting another tenor uke.

Update, Aug. 2010:
Republic now offers a wooden-body resonator uke. very nice
looking, sut still only concert scale. I'd buy one if it was a
tenor scale.

Would I purchase another Republic? Not a concert scale;
yes if they ever make a tenor.Would I recommend them to others? Yes, for those who
want a specific sound, with caveats about the moveable cone and bridge. Rating (0-5): ***1/2Status: Sold but considering a tenor resonator,
possible steel-stringed.